By the late Rev Donald Campbell, M.A., Edinburgh
TEXT: “The Queen of the South shall rise up in judgement with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here,” Luke 11: 31.
THE Gospel according to Luke has often been described as the gospel of the Gentiles, and, no doubt, it contains references which have a special appeal to the Gentiles. The genealogy of our Lord in the first chapter is traced to Adam, whereas the genealogy in the Gospel according to Matthew is traced to Abraham. That, in itself, shows how Luke considered the gospel as that which was intended to reach far beyond the bounds of the Jewish world. It would reach, eventually, the utmost parts of the earth. The text itself would also confirm that view.
In endeavouring to consider the text, we have two things we would like to meditate upon.
First, there is the comparison made between Solomon and Christ.
First, we have the comparison made between those two persons: Christ Himself, who made the comparison, and Solomon. The comparison, of course, is between that of the Creator and the creature. We have only to read the first chapter of the Gospel according to John to be assured of the fact that Jesus was the Creator of heaven and earth and of everything that has a being. Without Him, we are told, nothing was made which was made. The universe, as we see it and far beyond our vision, was created by Jesus Christ as the eternal Son of God, who is the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of His person. It is true that Solomon was no ordinary man, but this extraordinary stature, which he assumed, he had from God. He was richly endowed with wisdom. He asked for wisdom. God gave him wisdom, wisdom to rule His people Israel, but he had nothing of himself, nothing but what he had received. The Apostle Paul confessed regarding himself, and insisted that others acknowledge, that no man had any good thing but that which he had received. Solomon would be the first to acknowledge this as far as he himself was concerned. Although he was the wisest of mere men that ever lived, and although he gave demonstration after demonstration of the truth of this, he had nothing but what he had received from God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Further, it is true that Solomon was not only a wise man but he used his wisdom in the right way. Perhaps the best instance of this was the one in which he was asked to judge on behalf of the mother whose child was stolen. You remember how that argument was settled by him; how he asked that a sword be produced and that the living child be divided into two parts so that the two mothers would have an equal share. Of course, the natural mother would rather be without her son; would rather have him alive somewhere in the custody of somebody than see him killed before her eyes.
When we compare this situation to the situation in Jairus’ house when Jesus arrived there, we see that it bears a strong resemblance to it. It also was one of great grief and distress. Mothers were involved. Life and death were involved. Solomon, in his judgement, it may be, foresaw the outcome, although we are not told. Had he carried out his declared intention he would have committed a crime. The Saviour, Christ, in the house of Jairus, was able to dispose of matters in a very different way because He was greater than Solomon. The best thing Solomon could do, in the situation in which he found himself, was to threaten life in the hope that the end would turn out to be as it was, but the One who sees the end from the beginning was able to restore the child in Jairus’ house to life. In the case dealt with by Solomon, one poor mother was left without a child. She had to grieve over its death to her dying day. But because one greater than Solomon was in Jairus’ house the little girl, who was dead, was restored and there was only joy in that house — joy and rejoicing.
The wisdom of Solomon is further displayed, in no ordinary measure and form, in the temple which he built, but we have to bear in mind that it was not done wholly by himself and that it took a long time to accomplish. He built this wonderful house, this temple which God filled with His presence. But we have a greater than Solomon in the person of Christ: He who created the universe, created it alone, and created it without the skill of Hiram or anyone else. He created all by the Word of His power. Solomon could only make provision for worship for his people, but Christ prepared Heaven that it might become an eternal temple; a place of worship for the saints to all eternity.
Solomon, as we said, was exceptionally wise, wiser than all men, but Christ was, is and continues to be, wisdom itself. This is the One of whom Solomon himself, in the Book of Proverbs, writes about: Wisdom preparing her table for her guests; Wisdom extending her invitation to all and sundry to come and eat of the good things she has provided; Wisdom appealing to the simple to turn in that he might receive wisdom. Wisdom is personified; and wisdom personified is Christ. We had, in the chapter read in the morning, the Apostle directing the attention of the Corinthian believers to the fact that Christ was made unto them “wisdom”, as well as righteousness, sanctification and redemption. He is wisdom itself. He does not derive His wisdom from another. He has it inherently and He shall have it forever, while Solomon’s wisdom wore out, as it were. Solomon turned out to be very unwise in the evening of his life; he had so many wives they led him astray; they so influenced his life as to affect the wisdom divinely bestowed upon him.
But the wisdom of Christ is not a wisdom that comes to an end. Indeed, the beginning of His reign was less glorious than that of the end. It is true that His birth was acclaimed as of unprecedented importance. The King of the Jews, the Saviour, was born in the City of David but comparatively few knew of it. While we are not to forget the glorious fact of His birth, it is not that for which He has appointed an ordinance to perpetuate the memory of it, but rather His death. “This do ye . . . in remembrance of Me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till He come.” (1 Corinthians 11: 25,26). This surely shows that if the beginning of His life in this world was glorious, the end of it was still more so. In the case of dear Solomon the beginning was very glorious indeed, but just as the sun of his own natural life was gradually setting so was the sun of his wisdom. Yes, Christ is greater than Solomon.
Solomon was a great king for he extended his influence far beyond the bounds of his own kingdom. He subdued not by the means of armies but by his great wisdom. By diplomacy he was able to bring his neighbours into his confidence so that we find them submitting themselves to him and acknowledging his superior wisdom, knowledge, understanding and power. But Christ is the King of kings and Lord of lords. By Him, and by Him alone, kings reign and princes decree justice. It was not Solomon’s law which was imposed upon his own people and upon his neighbours but the law of Jehovah. This is Jehovah, Jehovah-Jesus, Who is greater than Solomon. This is the King of kings. This is the One who must reign until all His enemies are made His footstool.
The Saviour Himself said, among other things in this very chapter, when the Jews said that He was casting out devils by the prince of devils, “But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the Kingdom of God is come upon you,” (Luke 11: 20). This was the proof that the Kingdom of Heaven was in the world. But Solomon’s wisdom, authority and influence, his building a temple, his pleading to heaven and having an answer to his prayer were not proofs that the Kingdom of God had come in the form in which it was to appear by the coming of the great God and Saviour of men. Solomon could not cast one devil out of men. Surely, if he could, he would have cast that devil out of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. But the Lord Jesus Christ cast out devils. Yes, a greater than Solomon is here. He has power over not only all flesh but also over devils. They are subject to Him.
Solomon, we are told, killed his enemies. He executed even his brother, because he could not trust him, and also Joab, the man who was his father’s commander-in-chief of the army, because he judged him an enemy and a threat to his own position. Did Christ kill His enemies? Was that the way He dealt with sinners who opposed Him? No, no, no, He loved them and He commanded His people to do the same. “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you;” (Matthew 5: 43, 44). That is exactly what He did Himself. He loved His friends also. Solomon did not lay down his life for anybody, neither for foe nor friend. He was well protected and he enjoyed life while he lived it in this world. But this One made Himself of no reputation, had nowhere to lay His head, humbled Himself in this way for the purpose of saving sinners and loved them unto the end. This was the end: He laid down His life for them, for His friends, and laid down His life for them not when they were friends but when they were enemies. As the Apostle Paul put it, “When we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly . . . God commandeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us,” (Romans 5: 6,8). Solomon could not do this. “A greater than Solomon is here,” for He is One who loved His people unto the end; One who gave proof of the greatest measure of love one could have for another — He laid down His life. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,” (John 15: 13). Jesus did this.
Solomon’s gifts were bestowed on him. He had nothing apart from what was given him, but Jesus Christ had what He had by right. When He claimed to be equal with the Father and demanded of sinners to worship and honour Him He had every right to do so. “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father,” (John 14: 9). Those who sinned against Him were sinning against the Father. Any dishonour done to Him was done to the Father. No-one heard God saying from Heaven about Solomon, “This is My beloved Son . . . hear ye Him,” (Matthew 17: 5). He was beloved of God but he was not the Son of God in truth and love in the sense in which Jesus Christ was. He was not the Eternal Son of God from everlasting, but Christ was, and God testified to the truth of this when He said, in a voice which people heard, “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased,” (Matthew 17: 5).
Solomon, at best, could only render worship. This he was able to do by the grace bestowed upon him, but Jesus Christ received worship and rightly so. This is true of Him now: He is receiving worship. This song, recorded in the Book of Revelation, is sung in heaven, “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own Blood . . . to Him be honour, glory and dominion for ever and ever,” (Revelation 1: 5,6). The whole host of heaven worship the One in the midst of the Throne. The best place that Solomon can have in heaven is as a star in its firmament, and that is no ordinary honour, “. . . they that turn many to righteousness (shall shine) as the stars for ever and ever,” (Daniel 12: 3). But the One who is greater than Solomon is in the midst of the Throne. “A greater than Solomon is here.”
Solomon’s wisdom, Solomon’s ministry and Solomon’s life came to an end. He died. His grave, as is often said about others, is still with us. His dust is still in the earth. He has not departed bodily into Heaven. Christ also died. Solomon died because he was mortal himself and he was mortal because he was a sinner. Christ died because he had a mortal body but that body was not mortal by reason of sin for there was no sin in Him. No guile was found in His mouth, no deceit was in His heart. He was separate from sinners, higher than the heavens, but he died. He died because He was made sin for His people; because by divine decree and by the exercise of divine power implementing that decree, He became surety for the sins of the elect. He became responsible for giving satisfaction to divine justice on their behalf in order that they might be counted worthy to receive the blessing and the gift of eternal life. He died but His grave is not with us. If it is, it is empty. His dust is not in the grave. He rose again. “Now the God of peace . . . brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,” (Hebrews 13: 20). He rose, having spoiled principalities and powers, having made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in His death. Having obtained eternal redemption for His people He became the author of their salvation.
When we consider these heights; when we consider Christ’s ministry, its successes, its achievements, its fulfillments, we surely leave Solomon far behind. He is reduced to the status of an ordinary man; one who is needing salvation for his own soul; one who is indebted to the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ for what He has done and for what He does. Solomon, when he was in the world, was never permitted to enter into the most holy place. He never presumed to do so. He knew it was unlawful. Even though he had the power which he had, he did not have the power to enter into the holiest place with the blood of the sacrifice. That was not a function of his office. He was a king, but the Lord Jesus Christ was both King and Priest; the Priest on His throne; the Priest who entered into the most holy place not made with hands eternal in the heavens. Solomon entered heaven as a saint redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. Christ entered into heaven with His own blood which made atonement for His people. The way into the holiest is made manifest. The new and living way is consecrated by the great High Priest of the Church who has taken His place in the most holy place of all, in heaven. “A greater than Solomon is here,” infinitely greater.
Both Christ and Solomon were raised high above all men. Solomon had all the honour he had by the fact that he was elevated. He was raised up to a place of prominence and pre-eminence. But Jesus Christ became what He is by means of humiliation. He would not be exalted as a Prince and a Saviour, as the God-man Redeemer, if He had not humbled Himself and become obedient unto death, even the accursed death of the cross.
And because he thus humbled Himself He also entered into Heaven as the first begotten of them that slept; the firstfruit of them that died in Jesus; the elder brother of a family composed of a number which no man can number. Solomon could never have achieved this; neither could an angel.
With regard to angels, they were not subservient to Solomon but they were to Jesus. Angels had access to Solomon, as they had to other saints, but he had no control over them to order them, but Jesus had them all at His disposal. They were ministering spirits. When He was on earth they ministered to Him in the wilderness and in the Garden of Gethsemane. On the morning of His resurrection they were there at the grave, helping the church on earth in the physical absence of its representatives, removing the great stone so that access to the grave might be free for all. Solomon’s life had nothing comparable to this in it. Then, Solomon was not an intercessor — that was the function of the priest in his time — but Christ Jesus is the only Mediator between God and men.
Secondly, and briefly: the lesson to be drawn from the fact that a greater than Solomon is here, and from the comparison between the Queen of the South’s response to the wisdom of Solomon and the response of the Pharisees, the Jews, the lawyers and the scribes to the ministry and teachings of Christ.
In this verse there is first a reference to the Queen of the South who was outside Solomon’s jurisdiction but had heard of Solomon’s wisdom. So impressed was she with what she heard that she must go to Jerusalem to see this wonderful man. She put herself to no ordinary trouble and expense to see and hear this man. She found him to be a wonderful man. So overwhelming was his wisdom, as far as she was concerned, that we read of her that she had no more spirit in her. She became as a worm in his presence. The Saviour compares her response to that of the people of His own generation, whom He was addressing at the time, and among whom He had performed His ministry. He compared her response and their response; her’s to Solomon, their’s to Jesus. What was the difference? In the first place the Queen’s response was genuine, and secondly it was rewarded. Their response was at best superficial, a pretence, and at worst it was vicious. It was full of enmity. It served only to betray the malice of their hearts where Jesus was concerned. They described Him as Beelzebub, or in the service of Beelzebub, the prince of devils. They found fault with Him for everything, even for not washing His hands before dinner, although they were in the presence of the One who knew their hearts and who knew that their hearts were vile and full of every evil thing. At the same time, they were in the presence of the One who was able to take away the stony heart out of their flesh and give them an heart of flesh. This was the One who could fill them with the love of God; the One who could show them the Father; the One who could blot out their sins and reconcile them to God and make them heirs of the life that shall never end. But their response was totally unworthy of the privilege they enjoyed in having a greater than Solomon with them.
What is our own response? It is comparatively easy for us to describe the response of others in the days gone by — how those Jews wickedly responded to the words, the miracles, the ministry of the Saviour. What have we to say about ourselves? If we examine ourselves, what is our response to the Word? Do we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God? Do we know something about our own hearts, our own state, our own needs in view of eternity? We have the Word of God to condemn us, and on the other hand we have the Word of God as a light, a guide to show us the way to Jesus the Saviour. The Saviour said that the Queen of the South would condemn the men of that generation because she so appreciated the privilege of meeting Solomon, seeing his wisdom and knowing his power, his glory and something about his kingdom. She appreciated that. For that reason she would condemn the men of the generation who had access to Jesus, who heard Him speaking, and who could touch the hem of His garment. What is our own attitude towards Jesus? What think ye of Jesus? May He bless unto us His Word.